State basketball tournaments impact Lakeland, Polk beyond bottom line

Saturday

The importance of the tournament to the community along with the economic impact to Polk County are key factors in why The Lakeland Center has wanted to host the events.

LAKELAND — During the two weeks of the boys and girls state basketball tournaments, Chip Salerno is at The Lakeland Center so much he needed a key to the facility because he was often there before anyone else arrived.

A coach, teacher and former athletic director at Lake Gibson High School, Salerno is in charge of the stats crew for the two tournaments.

He’s been working the tournament for 22 years, and his crew has been with him for about 16 years, which isn’t uncommon. The Lakeland Center has about 200 volunteers playing key roles, about 80 percent of whom are regulars.

“I think we’ve built this team of people that they like seeing each other, they know what to do, and it doesn’t matter if there are local schools or not,” said Allison Jones, The Lakeland Center's director of event services, who oversees the day-to-day operations of the event.

“They’re just happy to see the kids come out to support the teams and have it in our community,” she said.

The importance of the tournament to the community along with the economic impact to Polk County are key factors in why The Lakeland Center has wanted to host the events even though it doesn't make much after the Florida High School Athletic Association takes its cut.

The boys tournament has been in Lakeland since 1977 except for five years when it moved to Tallahassee from 1991 through 1996. The girls tournament has been here since 1989 except for three years in Tallahassee from 1991 through 1993.

Tony Carmarillo, the executive director of The Lakeland Center, hopes to keep the event after this year, which is the final year of the current three-year contract.

“We’re hoping we can extend it or negotiate a new contract,” Camarillo said.

FHSAA Executive Director Roger Dearing, who is retiring in May, expressed a positive view of The Lakeland Center.

"I think the location has been great for us,” he said. “The Lakeland Center has been very accommodating, so that always makes it nice. It’s nice to be welcome.

"The feedback we get from the coaches, the athletic directors and the school administrators has been very positive,” he said.

The numbers game

The boys and girls tournaments aren’t money-making events for The Lakeland Center, although they’re not meant to be. The combined events lost $14,833 in 2015 and $17,094 in 2016.

Part of understanding the financials of hosting the tournament is separating the real money from the potential income that could be earned by renting the facility out to another event.

“If you look at as straight P and L (profit and loss) and what we spend, we’re probably on the positive end,” Camarillo said. “Not much, but we look at this as something very important to Lakeland. We have a committee that is very dedicated to us that raises money that helps us fund the tournament. We have volunteers, we have restaurants that contribute.”

The FHSAA's cut of gross revenue from the combined tournaments came to $232,780 in 2015 and $232,841 last year — all from ticket sales. Combined, the basketball tournaments came in just behind the football championships, which brought the FHSAA $234,750 in 2015-16.

However, basketball isn't nearly as profitable.

After the FHSAA pays its expenses and some travel costs for the teams, boys basketball gave the organization a net income of $63,649, which is third behind football ($118,641) and wrestling ($79,258.43).

Girls basketball is a money-losing venture for the FHSAA, to the tune of $41,209. Together, the basketball tournaments only net $22,438 for the FHSAA, which is fifth behind football, wrestling, competitive cheer, swimming and cross country.

According to the last basketball contract signed in 2014, the FHSAA receives 100 percent of the ticket revenue up to $212,500 and 65 percent of the revenue above that total. Last year was the first in which the FHSAA allowed spectators to buy a one-day ticket, rather than charging for individual, two-game sessions.

“We had some concerns, but we found that people come for the game they want to come for and leave,” Lakeland Center Assistant Director Scott Sloman said. “Our concern was they were buying multiple tickets for multiple sessions.”

Although attendance has fluctuated in recent years, the combined attendance the past four years has been relatively stable at a little more than 24,000 fans.

Last year’s attendance of 24,287, when there was just one local team and no local boys team, was down just 83 fans from 2015 when there were two local teams.

“I wish some of our smaller schools would have larger crowds because this is the state championship,” Dearing said. “It’s a big event. But it’s also a school day, so I understand that as well. I think everybody has been very happy.”

The Lakeland Center makes money three ways, not including the $36,400 it receives from Polk County Sports Marketing. It receives 100 percent of the parking, which amounted to $78,527 last year. It also took in $32,160 from sponsorships.

Sloman, who has been with The Lakeland Center for 17 years, said the sponsorships used to be in the $60,000 to $70,000 range. The championship committee is in charge of the fundraising.

“A lot of it has to do with the relationships,” Sloman said. “As the members come and go, it (money raised) changes for better or for worse.”

Gow Fields, a co-chairman of the local organizing committee, said raising money remains a constant challenge.

“You have some supporters who support it because they’re giving back to the community, not because it’s good for their business necessarily,” Fields said.

“Others are supporting it because, in fact, it is good for their business," he said. "They benefit directly or close to directly as possible, or maybe indirectly, from having the additional people here in town and in the community at the restaurants and hotels.

“The challenge is that you have a statewide audience, and since the high school activities association has a huge contract with Bright House, now Spectrum, to broadcast the event, it eats away at the attendance," he said.

Fields said it’s easier for a statewide business to be a sponsor because whether the audience sees it on TV or is at the arena, the business will benefit.

“Someone who does business only here in Lakeland is only going to benefit if people physically show up,” Fields said. “They’re going to be looking at the attendance, and the attendance isn’t what it used to be. So that makes it more difficult.”

Camarillo said there’s been a push in recent years to get younger people more involved on the championship committee.

“It would nice to get a real big sponsor to cover a bunch of it, but it’s easier said than done,” he said. “There are so many things in Lakeland that people are proud to give to, so we’re right in line with those great things.”

Contract terms with the FHSAA have changed over the years. In 2006, they called for a 90-10 split of the gate.

“The biggest change has been an upfront guarantee,” Sloman said. “In the past, it all had been percentages. The last go-around, they wanted a guaranteed amount.”

Ticket prices and parking prices are set by the FHSAA, so there are limited options to increasing revenue.

“We try to recover as much of the hard cost as we can,” Camarillo said. “But we know that this is bigger than what we make. This is about Lakeland being on the map. This is about tradition of being here in Lakeland. This is something I had to learn.”

It’s not just about pride, however. The reason The Lakeland Center is willing to take a small financial loss is because of the economic impact — fans and teams staying in hotels, eating at restaurants, buying gas, etc.

“Those are all critical to this event, so when we look at it, those are the things we’re measuring,” Camarillo said.

Lakeland Center Controller Steven Collazo said the economic impact is $1.3 million to $1.6 million, using conservative estimates.

“Determining economic impact is not an exact science,” he said.

What’s next?

The current contract was signed in 2014. When the tournament was put up for bid that year, there had been talk about moving the tournament from Lakeland. Dearing at the time told The Ledger that the organization felt “like we’re not welcomed.”

The FHSAA was under fire from the state Legislature and Sen. Kelli Stargel, R-Lakeland, led efforts to change FHSAA policies.

Dearing declined to pick up the two-year option that year and instead put the the tournament up for bid with the political climate playing a role in that decision.

“I think it did, but I think in the end, we hope the FHSAA will find there is no other place for these finals than Lakeland, and I think maybe they found that out,” Camarillo said. “They did try to move. It’s not secret and there was no place to go.”

A number of cities, including Palm Beach, Orlando and Jacksonville, expressed interest, but only Lakeland submitted a proposal in two rounds of bidding.

Dearing said Palm Beach had conflicts with the dates of the tournament, while Jacksonville lost its director just before the FHSAA was about to enter negotiations.

Lakeland beat out Orlando and Kissimmee in 2011. In 2006, Lakeland was the only city to bid on both the boys and girls tournaments. Orlando bid for the boys at the old TD Waterhouse Centre but did not bid on the girls.

John Stewart, FHSAA commissioner at the time, said the desire to keep the boys and girls tournaments at the same venue was one of the main factors in the decision and it continues to be a factor because of Title IX.

“We’re a high school event,” Dearing said. “We have to make sure the accommodations for the boys and girls are identical.”

The current contract expires this year, but it could return for two years without it being put up for bid.

Dearing said that after every state championship event, the FHSAA meets with the host facility to review how things went. When they do, whether to extend the facility will be something they’ll discuss.

Experience matters

Hosting basketball is a big job. And Lakeland has a lot of experience.

There are major jobs like setting up the courts and stages at each end; making sure the wi-fi, the scoreboard and the videoboard are working; organizing food service for concessions; hospitality for officials, media and volunteers; and setting up the locker rooms for the teams, which includes making sure there is Gatorade in the rooms along with all the team packets with items for the players.

“Those are important things,” Jones said. “They’re little things, but they’re important things."

Salerno was instrumental years ago in converting the manual stats-keeping to electronic stats, and having the same crew every year keeps it running smoothly.

“It’s a big advantage,” Salerno said. “All the guys know the steps. We all know how to troubleshoot for each other."

That advantage extends throughout the production.

“A lot of the problems that were there in the early years have been resolved,” said Jones, the director of event services. “Seriously, we’ve done this for so long that we can anticipate the surprises.”

Another advantage will be the planned improvements to the facility, which include a new court and new video board, because of the arrival of the Orlando Magic’s D-Leaue team.

“They’re going to have a great partner for this in the future,” Camarillo said. “I think they’re going to want to figure out how to be part of it.”

It’s also a reason why he said the FHSAA wants to talk with Lakeland Center officials about bring volleyball back to the facility.

But it's all built on community support. Even the Polk County School Board helped out years ago when former county Athletic Director Don Bridges got the board to approve substitutes so people like Salerno could work the event.

“This is a tremendous thing that is put on by The Lakeland Center,” Salerno said.

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